Talking about your feats and delegating to others is a leader is typically what a leader does. Nowadays, coaching is showing us that one of the skills which are included within the realm of good communication is listening.

Without listening, leaders will eventually run into a wall within their leadership, resulting in an overall lack of communication.

Here are six tips on how to become a good listener:

1. It’s not always about you

Instead of thinking about what you can say, simply be quiet and focus on what is being sad by others. Don’t be egocentric! Instead of waiting for someone to acknowledge how your ideas are great and stroke your ego, listen to others and compliment their ideas.

2. Always be available to listen

Remember that by listening you can also learn something new or even be given light to a situation you are working on your daily life. Independent of the persons position, never be too busy to listen to them.

3. Look beyond verbal communication

Body language s a strong way in which things can be communicated. When you think abou the concept of listening, remember that you can also listen to the body language of the person who you are communicating with, from which you can obtain valuable information.

4. Look between the lines

Many times, a single frase can convey multiple messages. Try to read between the lines of what the person is saying in order to obtain aditional information which is not being directly conveyed.

5. Make listening your patent

Try to become well-known for being a good listener. People will value very highly what you have to say as well.

6. Recognize others

As always, it is important to recognize the contributions which others make. Be honest and truly thankful as to how they have contributed to the team and the company.

If you are a manager, director or even the owner of your company, you will inevitably reach a point where you will require a coach. There are numerous reasons as to why you might eventually seek a coach which fall into the following main categories:

When you have a close relationship to your employee, and consequently you know his wnats and needs, as well as his potential and desire to further develop. It is not recommended that you do the coaching yourself, as you might lack the tools which a professional coach has learned over the years.

When one of your employees ignores your feedback and also has a poor personal performance. It may be time to have a frank talk with him and help him set his work priorities. This person may be a potential coachee!

When an employee already has a hig performance and requires coaching to even further develop their skills. This is a typical “star on the rise” whom with the help of higher level coaching, will be able to achieve much more than he already has been achieving.

Overall, it is important to note that some questions should be raised prior to making a choice on which employee to coach.

1. Is this person coachable? Is this person willing to be coached?

2. Does this person understand that coaching will require them to question and challenge themselves, making them leave their comfort zone?

3. Does this persons schedule allow them to dedicate themselves to recieving coaching?